How on earth do the abnormal human beings who now lord over the state of Karnataka hide 5 lakh tonnes of illegally mined iron ore without anybody noticing? How on earth do they manage to transport 25,000 to 40,000 truck loads of such ore—worth between Rs 150 and Rs 250 crore—across various jurisdictions in 400-500 trucks a day, for months, without anybody noticing?

How on earth do the abnormal human beings manage to illegally export Rs 1,200 crore (or more) of iron ore from the State’s ports over a year, and fabricate 41 gunny sacks of forged permits, without anybody noticing? How on earth can the confiscated ore suddenly “disappear” without anybody noticing?

How on earth can this daylight loot—of the State’s resources, of the State’s environment, of the State’s reputation as a civilised law-abiding State—go on without causing anger and outrage, unless ideology has made us abnormal too and inured us to sleaze and corruption of mind-numbing proporations?

Has law and order completely broken down in Karnataka?

Is the State fit for the imposition of Article 356?

BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, blesses State ministers B. Sriramulu (left) and Gali Janardhan Reddy in Bellary in January 2009. It was Swaraj's election against campaign against Sonia Gandhi in Bellary in 1999 that brought legitimacy to the Reddy brothers.

“It’s already become clear that Karnataka politics has become deeply compromised by interests vested in the mining economy…. B.S. Yediyurappa himself appears to have made little attempt to follow up on the former Lok Ayukta N. Santosh Hegde’s complaints….

“The state’s politics, particularly that of the ruling BJP, has been deeply influenced by the power of those, especially the Reddy brothers, who run the iron ore mines of Bellary. Karnataka’s government cannot afford to continue to show itself unable to clean house. The open contempt for legality visible at Bellikeri port is extremely disturbing.”

“The decision of Karnataka’s Lok Ayukta Justice N. Santosh Hegde to resign from his post is a damning indictment of the BJP regime in Karnataka. Justice Hedge’s complaints are a comment on how partisan interests are guiding the functioning of the Karnataka government.

“This episode reiterates two vital issues. One, the mining lobby led by the Reddy brothers, who are ministers in the Yediyurrappa government, continues with its operations, robbing the state of valuable natural resources and damaging the environment.

“Two, as Justice Hegde’s case makes evident, the office of the Lok Ayukta in the states where it exists is unable to live up to its mandate on account of lack of adequate powers and its dependence on the state government on crucial matters.”

57 comments

Article 356 was supposed to be a bramhastra in the arsenal of the Centre. A weapon of last resort with dire consequences for all concerned and to be used when all else has failed.

Unfortunately, the Congress Governments (and later the Janata Party Government as well) failed to grasp this and reduced the effectiveness of the weapon to the point that the Supreme Court had to step in and threaten to strike down its wrongful invocation as being unconstitutional (a case which , ironically enough, came up from a situation in Karnataka).

The depredations of the Reddy brothers cannot be rectified by Central fiat. Corruption, even on a large scale is not a breakdown of constitutional machinery warranting 356. To go back to the Mahabharata, the unjustified use of the Brahmastra leads to terrible consequences on the user (think Aswaththaama) and leaves no one in a better position.

Imposing A.356 on Karnataka now will blowback on the centre because
1. the BJP will change the contours of the debate from corruption to party politics polluting centre state relations.

2. The Reddy Brothers and the BJP will look like victims rather than perpetrators.

Well never mind the BJP in Karnataka, what about Manmohan’s UPA government? UPA government should be dismissed by the same logic after the spectrum scam, Maoist handling, HRD ministry’s whimsical orders, Jairam Ramesh’s arbitrary actions, Chidambaram’s handling of security situation….

No! Article 356 is a bad instrument, and should only be used if there is a complete breakdown in law and order. A mere couple of instances of breach of court order can be corrected by PIL and dragging the govt. through the coal.

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Rastrakoota:
>Yeddi will have his final cry when everything appears completely looted

He’ll have the final laugh!

Yeddi knows very well that he is a one term horse, and won’t return as CM. Unlike Modi, he can’t aspire for bigger things.

So, his best bet is to buy half of Shimoga and perhaps a large chunk of cash/real-estate in Bangalore for his progeny. He is already doing that.

karnataka is the best case scenario to impose 356.
look the way poor farmers were brutally assaulted by bjp govt yesterday near hemmigepura when thay were protesting against NICE.
human right record during this govt has been dismal.
karnataka’s natural resource isbeing plundered.
our governor bharadwaj has handled the situation brilliantly.he is one of the best governor india has seen.

As usual you are delusional. So Raja was merely following rules and regulations made by NDA is it? Can you find me at least two or three supporters like you on this issue? So Railways is brilliantly run by Mamata B is it? BTW what do you know about the illegal mining that is going on all over India?:) So support to Bhopal victims by the Indian tax payer is not a scandal is it? Oh wait if even it is then it is PVN who is responsible, right? You my delusional friend are living under a rock which has large letters on it called ‘DELUSIONAL’…

1) Are you saying UPA continued to use the prices set by evil and corrupt NDA?

2) Are you saying UPA did not act in the interest of the nation by not changing rules and regulations before auction? so that it would have ensured more cash inflow to the govt – about 20000 cr to 60000 cr.

Sure if they could scrap POTA, they could change spectrum allocation rules also, no?

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BJP has screwed big time. What a golden opportunity it was for them down south.
It is quite possible that Santosh Hegde was influenced by the opp parties. Very much possible. But that does not explain missing tonnes of iron ore. That does not explain reinstating of corrupt officials. That does not explain not taking action against mining mafia. So it is BJP which created that opportunity for opp parties to influence Hegde.

It seems Yeddy cried because he is not able to wipe the tears of farmers. In that case he should resign as CM.

I never thought that I would be supporting the imposition of Article 356 to dismiss a duly elected government. Unfortunately BJP government ha lost its mandate. CM is totally incapable to governing and upholding the rue of law. Today Karnataka government is under mafia rule. The central should dismiss the government without waiting for a minute.

After just one comment for a prev post, which astonished me, you back to your old(only) ways of BJP bashing for everything/anything and praising the congress for eveven timely Sunrise :). No doubt, that BJP is clearly the culprit here for supporting the corrupt openly. But supporting A Raja to put BJP in bad light is bit too… much. Any way happy that you are back to your old self.

By merely following your predecessor’s framework, you don’t become a scamster. Raja, if anything, has not applied his mind that’s all. Certainly not illegal and not a scam. Since he realised soon that NDA’s regulations were actually robbing the country of crores of rupees, he did the next smart thing: Undo what the NDA did. So, Indian govt. got 100 thousand crore rupees as profit.

I note that neither you nor Dodda buddi has commended Raja for his historic and unprecedented achievement.

Nothing delusional in 100 thousand crore. It is a reality, Mr. Doddi Buddi.

NDA was in power for 6 years and BJP has been in power for 15 years in Madhya Pradesh since the Bhopal tragedy occured. Neither of the governments did not move an inch to bring Anderson to book or clean up the Bhopal mess or compensate the victims.

It is only the Congress which has done the right thing now by taking 22 measures to set right the faults of 1984.

of course, certain ministries aren’t being run efficiently at the centre. But so is the case with BJP in Karnataka.

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Another one,

1) If you noticed, I HAVE NOT SUPPORTED the dismissal of BJP government in Karnataka. No elected governmet should be dissmissed and I outright condemn all the previous acts of Congress -where they went on a dismissal spree in 70s and 80s.

2) I have also said there are certain minsitries which are not being run efficiently in the Congress led govt at the centre.

Clearly, you are wrong that I only bash BJP and praise Cong. The two points above validate it.

excellent article.
The basic problem however is the great indifferent centre and amendments in laws of export which has to be independent from these scoundrels – as in “politics is last resort of scoundrels” which again is impossible when court justices have repeatedly proven that they want to depend on politics specially our neighbouring Tamils.
BY telling India is one – executive, judiciary and defence is one and bound they have all joined hands to show that they are all corrupt.
For example – apart from naxal movement – Uttarakhand displaces huge number of villages by sanctioning so many dams on the same river – it can be seen as a technology thrown out by US onto third world countries when they themselves have stopped building dams to conserve resources – and these dams are of no use for major part of the year for power generation. Tehri dam was built at a cost of 1 billion dollar while there is no solution for Kosi floods!!
The same dams are encroaching slowly the Himachals and beautiful chamba valley where hills are indiscriminatingly baldened by our Khalsa regiments cooling down their asses in dalhousies.

While another Khalsa – the Madmohan is busy for Canadian uranium for a mere 3% energy and signing all types of deals to make us more dependent on those red herring prospectus which Americans are splendidly known to stamp upon developing nations.

Can Santosh Hegde and Venkatachala start a movement in Karnataka. Can they come out of their cocoons of unreal democracy. Can they see a non-Indian Karnataka?

DIsmiss congress government at centre. We have spineless PM and an Italian lady to boss him.

Congress people are still supporting Kasab. Afzal Guru since they have fear of losing muslim vote banks.
Congress leaders have deposited billions of dollars in swiss bank accounts
Congress party is responsible for all the problems of Kashmir
Congress party is responsible for Bofors and million other scams.
Congress is hopeless for India. Throw congress away to Indian ocean.

You say this –
“By merely following your predecessor’s framework, you don’t become a samster”

Then this –
“NDA was in power for 6 years and BJP has been in power for 15 years in Madhya Pradesh since the Bhopal tragedy occured. Neither of the governments did not move an inch to bring Anderson to book or clean up the Bhopal mess or compensate the victims”

Contradiction.
According to your logic, NDA & BJP have not done anything wrong here. They merely followed their predecessor.

You say this –
“Raja, if anything, has not applied his mind that’s all. Certainly not illegal and not a scam”

Then this –
“NDA’s regulations were actually robbing the country of crores of rupees”

Going by your logic, NDA also did not apply their mind.. that’s all. So simple.

What is Raja’s “unprecedented”? Let us know. Calling for an auction of 3G spectrum? If Raja who does not apply his mind can do this, anybody can do. What’s special?

I won’t blame your rabid anti congressism. You have been fed a staple diet of anti congressism for the past several decades, that you just can’t digest fresh thought/inputs.

The new BJP is like the old Congress – corrupt, appeasing minorities, dictatorial, insensitive to people’s concerns and blatantly abusing power.

WHy do I say BJP is appeasing minorities?

1. Full page ad released recently in Bihar shows Modi reaching out to Muslims. The ad says that Muslims have benefitted from the several schemes launched specifically for their purpose…

2. BJP chose Ram Jethmalani to fight the RS elections. This man openly said that Afzal Guru does not deserve death since he did not get a fair trial. Clearly, BJP is supporting men who don’t want Afzal Guru hanged.

3. Jaswanth Singh, vocal admirer of Jinnah, was brought back into BJP.

These three incidents happened in the last two weeks alone. There are plenty more earlier postings of mine which have showcased BJP’s muslim appeasement policies in full glory.

Lol. me and contradiction how? Let me point out where the contradiction lies.

1. Of course, like Raja, NDA too did not apply its mind to the sale of 2d spectrum. But nobody called NDA’s telecom minister a scamster. So the contradiction is here. Raja is a scamster and not the NDA telecom minster? Strange.

2. In the Bhopal incident – both BJP and Congress are guilty of derelection of duty. Show me one posting of mine which says the then Congress of 1984 was efficient. But I support the 22 measures taken by the GoM, therefoer Congress is better – because it is the party which has FINALLY taken action – even if it is 25 years late. BJP in Madhya pradesh isn’t doing even that.

3. Raja’s policies gave us 100,000 crore. That is unprecedented money to fall into government’s hands. His 2d handling lacked creativity – it merely aped NDA. However, he discarded that and went for auctioning of 3D spectrum – and boy, look at the profit the government made. Kudos to Raja!

Hmmm..as expected the debate has got the ‘Raja’ spin and reduced to Tu Tu Main Main game.

Simple sir is trying quite hard to defend the indefensible ie proving Raja’s innocence. That would be quite a task and with the current data available in public domain, I think it’s a losing battle. The Cheshire cat grin Mr. Raja sports gives it all way. Either that’s the grin of an idiot or the grin of some one who ate up all the cream. Either way that cat doesn’t deserve to be in the house.

Now coming to the analogy between Raja and Reddy, I think it’s a simplistic one.

Raja gave away the precious spectrum to some favoured Telcos at seemingly low prices (which is quite confirmed on hindsight when we see the mind-boggling sum being paid for 3G) in a quid quo pro for some decent padding for his retirement nest or Thiru-Karu. Yes, that’s a potential loss to the Govt. However I wouldn’t term it as calamitous as the mining scam.

Here is why..the spectrum is a notional entity and that ‘resource’ still resides within the country. It’s not exported and lost forever to us – Govt or common citizens. If there is a strong case and will to do, Govt can overturn the sale of spectrum and reallocate it (ofc contractual obligations, litigations etc etc will be an issue). In any case with the advent of 3G, one would think 2G would have a limited life as cannibalisation would kick in. Moreover in India it seems the 2G spectrum ie 800 MHz is the one where 3G will ride instead of 2.1 GHz that was originally planned (am not sure about it and will be glad if someone could confirm or refute it).

Above all, Raja still remains a fringe player at Delhi though a scamster.He doesn’t seem to run the GoI which incidentally is run by Sonia G as many would insinuate:)

That brings us to the curious case of Reddy and Yeddy. Lakhs of tonnes of minerals is being exported out of the country and this is forever lost to us. This is a diminishing resource. While the private barons make pots of money the Govt gets some pennies in its bowl. This is SCAM in caps.

Some may argue that it’s all legitimate – atleast on paper. True. The current mining policy sucks. But the bigger scam is the latest one where in lakhs of tons of confiscated ore ‘disappears’.

Now count the various arms of the executive at are involved – Police, Forest, Mining ministry, Road/Transport, Port/shipping. That’s alarge chun of govt involved. This is where Reddy is different from Raja. While Raja sits in his telecom den and eats a hearty meal, our man Reddy actually runs the Govt – de facto. Don’t we all know the headmaster with the cane behind our beloved cry baby Yeddy? That’s in effect collapse of the rule of te legitimate Govt in Karnataka.

Beyond all this meandering argument, the stand – since GoI has its Raja it’s ok to have our Reddy – is not a convincing argument. Is it? Especially for a party with the difference?

Having said that imposition of President’s rule is not the answer. Congress has misused it many times in the past and any such step would backfire. It’s in the interest of BJP that the central leaders wake up and set the house in order in Karnataka.

OK, a drooling, overweight, senescent governor who makes up sweet stories about his life long attachment to Karnataka recommends that the popular government be sent home. New Delhi slaps 356 on us front and back with its congenital clumsiness. Then what?

Yeddi and his hedda 420s should be put in Parappa’s chatra today. No question about that. What can we expect after that? Watch Bharadwaj make the state a milch cow in his yard the way R. P. Thakur did before he decamped? Chamundiland is looters’ paradise anyway one slices it.

Well with this argument, they could dismiss all the State Governments and withdraw all mining permits irrespective of their political affiliation. But then Maya, Jogi, Pawar-Saheb, Abdullah and ThiruKa’s support is essential. If a party could sacrifice their own CM for the sake of an Oligarchy, you can expect nothing in those other States. And if the blasphemous subsequently get elected again they can always fall back on the proposed sudden removal solution by their fanboy.

And what is the alternative to the current mess ? Drum Singh ? Siddu ? Deshpande ? or DKShi ?

But for the need for ThiruKa’s support, the 2G spectrum commission would have remained in-house and siphoned off to the usual offshore accounts. If the heat became unbearable they would have found a scapegoat. (Like Natwar was made a bakra in the aftermath of the Volcker report. How can you believe that the high command was bypassed in the international payoff when even a corporator’s seat is decided there ? ) (Would it be possible to find a KPN or another source for a pic of Saddam with Tyaag Maatha to go with a Natwar article ? Oh, how could I dare to suggest that :) )
They have no qualms blaming PVN for Anderson’s free travel permit (at the same time denying him the credit for the economic recovery), in their quest for a halo around the *first* family. Who would they blame for freeing up Q’s frozen bank account ?

If Mr Hegde were to join Lok Satta his resignation may become constructive. I’m sure he will have no trouble getting the mandate. He could help a lot more as an elected representative than a resigned Lokayukta at a press conference. After all the media would relegate him to the inside pages once their TRP ratings find a new sensation.

The 20-point program party has come up with 22 measures, decades after a tragedy of criminal negligence. It’s not a Simple Achievement you see!

I do not know what iron ore looks like. I haven’t seen an iron ore mine or any mine for that matter. But I would assume that mining activity involves use of cranes lifts and equipments to transport the ore from the earth below to the surface for storing. If ore happens to be mined without a licence why does it not get noticed when the activity is taking place such as when the heavy equipments and the thousands of people involved in the operations move in large numbers? Will some reader please enlighten me?

I request Dr. MMS to show his usual exemplary decisiveness, vision, and courage to immediately constitute an EGoM to discuss and deliberate, and eventually give its considered opinion, on the political and legal feasibility of imposing article 356 in Karnataka.

The Govt run by Yeddi and the Reddy clan is a daylight robbery of Karnataka, the model state in total corruption.

What is not mentioned in the media is that while Yeddi was making his crocodile tears on stage at the grand ‘Sadhana Samaavesha’, a distressed poor farmer from Belgaum district created a furor by attempting to commit suicide. He is still in the ICU at KC General Hospital in Malleshwaram.

All the ministers have now become billionaires yet the looting continues uninterrupted while the crooked politicians continue to speak of tirelessly helping farmers and rural poor.

>>I care two hoots on the debate of corruption. There was no road near my house for 60 years, but after BSY came to power, we have roads and good infrastructure.

Well….There were decent tarred roads near my house /in front of my house just before the this Yeddi Saar came to power. After that, there are very neat roads near my house and Aaah NOT in front of my house!!! Phew!!! Going by your’s and a lot many peoples’ logic who have this fixation about their roads being in neat shape, I shud say as long as things are neat for me NEAR my house I prefer the govt of the day to be there for a 100 years! Progress isnt just about roads near/in front/ away from your House man. Its more, much much much more….May be Simple Saar has helped you decipher a bit here I guess!

“If Raja was indeed guilty of selling 2G spectrum to so called favoured companies (that is still an allegation, no proof so far), has this not been more than undone by his deft handling of 3G spectrum?”

Smart businessmen normally hire lobbyists to influence the govt. policy. Smarter folks put one of their own in the cabinet (you know whos nominees Deora, Patel, Raja, etc. are). Reddys don’t know how to play this game, they will master this art very soon. Dont be surprsied In a decade or so if they start getting awards like Business man of the year, best CSR Company of the year, lifetime achievement award, etc. and nominated on the boards of NDTV, TV 18, etc.

As long as you get that 10 feet road in front of your house, let all these vile things happen. Is that what you are saying?

Tarlemaga, this is not called development, it is called regression. Nation regresses, human values degenerates and the economy will take a pounding if we have such corrupt, inept professionals running our lives.

By your inverted argument, why should we care about Bofors – as long as Congress made us a nuclear power?

“If Raja was indeed guilty of selling 2G spectrum to so called favoured companies (that is still an allegation, no proof so far), has this not been more than undone by his deft handling of 3G spectrum?”

Auctioning of any scarce resource has been done for ages everywhere. It is a no-brainer. What is the “deft” handling of A.Raja in that? Even in India, oil and gas exploration blocks (NELP) are being auctioned since the last 10-12 years now without any brouhaha or corruption charges. In fact, we have to be thankful for A.Raja only because he took his hands off the 3G auction.

Just to clarify, I won’t be displeased if Yeddi’s pathetic government gets dismissed based on corruption charges. But I am only insisting by the same logic Sardar MMS fall on the sword as well. Makes sense? No more mumbo jumbo, voice of conscience, silent witness, ‘secular’ corruption OK and all that kind of shit!

GoldStar, if anything unprecedented happens, then you say it’s a no brainer. It’s not easy for the govt to generate revenue to the tune of 100,000 crore. And Raja has really done a fantastic job in ensuring that his ministry guaranteed this bumper harvest.

he could have followed the age old tradtion set by NDA, but he did not. He marched to a different tune and that made millions for hamara sarkar. Result? For the first time, after years, fiscal deficit can actually come to around 4%

Corruption is like a appetiser Rasam after a hard days work. It is required for a parallel economy to be in place to evade inflation. It creates Billions of jobs if not millions(While the other white collar criminal economy is nurtured by the likes of Agarwal,NRN,MITTAL and Ambanis)

So relish it and it is part of our DNA. Enjoy it. Even supreme court was a mute spectator. Our lawyer including Nani Palkhiwala, Jaitley,Chidabaram have worked for Union Carbide.

So let us loot the country and make Swiss Bankers rich. Also, let us not re-invite the British, we have our own Gowdas, Lalus, Mulayams, Karunanidhis, Reddys to do enhance the portfolio of Business called corruption.

India is no more a socialist country. It’s a Capitalist Country. The reasoning behind this is there is corruption in death and birth. The media houses publish the story and there are thousands of eye balls reading it. Increasing it’s circulation. There are associated tertiary industries enjoying the benefits of death and birth.

Is Rajiv Gandhi- the gaurdian spirit of the ‘ banana’ republic dead? His mortal remains might be in some New Delhi memorial- but his eternal greatness shall always pervade this nation and so I agree that he should be made the father emperor of the post-1984 Indian nation.

His heirs could be made emperors or empresses with people like LK Advani, Yeddyurappa, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Deve Gowda, Modi, Lalloo, Mulayam and Karunanidhi as court jesters; Ambika Soni, Tytler and Arjun Singh as family retainers and 1000 million devotees.